The question has been brought up and then left unanswered, too many times and for too long. “What is the perfect rod and reel combo which can be used on whatever, wherever I go?” Now of course there are the obvious areas which cannot be covered by the average flicking stick such as game fishing for marlin miles off the coast and bottom bashing giant metal slugs for samsonfish. However for everything from flicking tiny hardbodied lures and lightly weighted plastics at finicky estuary dwellers like bream through to chucking spinnerbaits to the depths of snags for large natives such as the mighty Murray Cod, I believe that I have found the answer.

What is something that is found around the water nearly everywhere you wet a line? The answer of course is the legless reptiles we all love to hate, snakes. Which is the first thing to come to your mind when you pick up any rod from the Gladiator Tackle’s Snake Skin Sports range. With their lightweight blanks and reliable strength, not to mention the amazing snake skin feel, this is the only rod that I trust to flick around. Of course, what is a rod without a reel? To go hand in hand with the Snake Skin Sports spin rods, with the help of Gladiator, Banax have created a reel which matches perfectly to the range of rods and comes in the form of the Snake Skin Spin reel.

The rod
Gladiator’s Snake Skin Sports range covers everything with over 30 rods to choose from, however the spin rod which was a stand out in my hunt for the perfect ‘all rounder’ was the 2.1m, 2-4kg model.
However at only 2-4kg this rod is not what you would expect and just holding it you can feel the backbone strength that this lightweight rod possesses. Another aspect of the Snake Skin Sports rods is of course their signature snakeskin look and feel. You really have to see it (and feel it) to believe it.
The action of this rod is just perfect allowing just the right flexibility under any pressure to cast lures and plastics no matter what their weight is. Retailing anywhere from $105 – $130 this rod is jam packed full of quality and surprises for its price range.

The reel matches perfectly to the rod..

The reelThe reel which has been developed by Gladiator and produced by Banax to match the rods in everyway is the Snake Skin Spin reel which comes in two different sizes 750 and 800. I am using the 800 size reel with 7 ball bearings, which really matches perfectly to the rod chosen and sits very comfortably in my hand. Weighing 255g the Snake Skin Spin reel has a smooth drag system with an amazing stopping power of 8kg which is plenty to stop nearly ever fish you are likely to encounter. An 800 may sound small but it is far from it with an amazing line capacity of 2/220 or 4/110 (kg/metres) which is well beyond what is ever going to be needed so I would recommend plenty of mono backing before the braided line.
When buying this reel, which is packed with features such as indestructible smooth drag and giant line capacity for only around rrp of $90, you can also feel safe and secured with your purchase as this great reel comes with a 5 year warranty on all of its parts.

Field testing
Sadly I received the new combo right at the beginning of the Murray Cod closed season which meant that my favourite hard fighting fish were out of the question for testing the new ‘all rounder’ combo. However on the upside of that I was lucky enough to spend a week on the coast. Here I was able to test the combo out on the species, mainly flathead, found within the small creeks of NSW’s beautiful Central Coast.

Flathead caught by easily being able to cast a 4 gram Hip Baby accurately into 'fishy' areas..

The rod handled beautifully and gave me the bit longer, more accurate casts with jig heads down to 1.5 grams and harbodies down to only 3 or 4 grams which were required to find the fish. Going for the longer, 2.1m, rod that I had chosen I was not only more easily able to launch the lures accurately to where I needed them but when using soft plastics imparting the perfect lifelike action became much more easier.

Returning to the freshwater I call home and unable to fish my regular haunts because of the closed season I resorted back to old times and soaked a couple of worms chasing one of our most over-looked native species, the eel-tailed catfish. For all they may not look pretty or like they have much backing them these bottom dwellers are hard running, dirty fighters which have no problem trying to entangle you in submerged structures or anything else they can wrap themselves around. But of course, the new combo provided me with all of the stopping power and strength required to drag them from whatever they had attempted escape on.

They mighn't look like much but these slimy bottom dwellers sure like to test tackle with their dirty fighting habits..

Conclusion so far
Now of course the limited few species I have targeted and tested the gear on in no way give me the backing required to claim that I have found the ‘all rounder’, but with this new combo at my side on my future adventures I am sure that I am well on my way to finding the setup and answer we are all after as it has stood up exceptionally to all that it has been tested on so far. To top it all off this combo has a price tag that comes to only around the $200 dollar mark which really is amazing value for money as this would be able to stand up to all normal fishing conditions.